Stock Market News for February 10, 2010 - Market News
U.S. stocks rose, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumping back above 10,000, as hopes grew that a solution to rescue Greece from its gaping debt woes would be found soon. The blue-chip Dow average, which closed below the 10,000-mark for the first time in three months yesterday, rose as much as 230 points during the session before paring some of those gains to close up 150 points.
Concerns that the spreading debt problems in Greece will push the fragile global economic recovery to the brink resulted in massive selloffs across the globe during the last four weeks. Those worries compounded as other weak European economies, including Spain and Portugal, also appeared vulnerable to debt problems.
The surprise early return of European Commercial Bank President Trichet from Australia fanned speculation that a European bailout plan was in the works. Then reports surfaced that Germany was working on an aid package for Greece. The European Investment Bank, however, ruled itself out on legal grounds. Nevertheless, amid all the commotion on the ground, most apparent was eagerness on part of the governments to stave off a crisis and avert contagion.
An improving picture in Greece sent the euro up for a second successive day against the dollar. The drop in the US dollar, off 0.8% against a basket of currencies, sent commodities priced in dollars and natural resource plays higher. The DJ-UBS commodities index jumped 1.1%. Crude prices rose 2.7% to $73.75. On Tuesday, the NASDAQ jumped 1.2% to 2151, helped by strength in technology shares, while the S&P 500 added 1.3% to close at 1071, as all ten industry sectors ended the day in the green.
Only two of the thirty DJIA components closed lower yesterday. Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) topped the list of gainers on the DJIA, up 5.4%, after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "underweight." Analysts noted, "We now see substantially more upside for industrial stocks than the overall S&P, driven by sharply higher order books, structural cost improvements, and rational global pricing." Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE:IR) and Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) also received ratings upgrade, both to "equalweight," from "underweight." A Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) upgrade to "buy" sent Monsanto (NYSE:MON) shares up 2.0%.
Earnings reports, meanwhile, continued to favor the markets. Shares in Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) advanced 2.6%, as the firm reported inline earnings of 66 cents a share on unit case volume growth of 5%. Revenues of $7.5 billion topped estimates of $7.1 billion. McDonalds (NYSE:MCD) also helped strengthen the markets, as January global comparable sales increased 2.6% on strength in France, UK, Japan and Australia. After the close, Disney (NYSE:DIS) reported first-quarter earnings of 47 cents a share ex-items, versus projections of 38 cents, as revenues of $9.74 billion topped estimates of $9.63 billion.
All ten S&P 500 industry sectors closed higher, led by basic materials (+3.0%), oil and gas (+1.9%), industrials (+1.6%), consumer goods (+1.6%), consumer services (+1.4%), telecommunications (+1.3%), technology (+1.2%), utility (+0.9%), financial (+0.9%), and health care (+0.7%).
Meanwhile, Fed Chairman Bernanke will offer written testimony on the Fed's plans to unwind its financial system support. Although most observers do not expect a major policy shift any time soon away, the specter of Fed tightening has weighed on sentiment, as investors would prefer to see concrete signs of a recovery with consumer spending in full swing.
The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
